Using Time Wisely: 3 Time-Saving Dinner Strategies

By Tracy on March 1, 2012

Photograph Credit: Flickr (Marinca Kasiske-Enders)

Among homework assignments, sports schedules, and family outings, squeezing in a nutritious dinner is challenging. By the time we complete homework, snag a few minutes of reading, and look at the clock, the time has come to start dinner.

Going to the kitchen and staring into the pantry, I come up with nothing. So, I go to the freezer and the refrigerator with the same result. Returning to the pantry, I open the door and expect a meal’s ingredients to magically congregate on the second shelf.

With my hopes dashed, I have wasted time and energy seeking for a solution to my “what’s for dinner?” quest. If I find no inspiration, then our family will also waste spend money at a restaurant.

In using time wisely, I find using a menu plan, my crock pot, and my freezer wonderful time-saving dinner strategies. These 3 time-saving tips help bridge the gap between “what’s for dinner?” and “supper’s ready.”

Menu Planning

Photograph Credit: Stock.xchng (Maxime Perron Caissy)

Finding a tool that works for your family and schedule is the key to your success. Though I use a monthly plan, I only fill in a few days to a week at a time. Seeing the full month allows me to plan our meals around busy seasons and entertainment events.

Are you overwhelmed at the sound of menu planning? It’s okay! As you gain knowledge, the fear of the unknown will subside. Allow me to walk beside you via links to this three-step process:

Crock Pot Options

Photograph Credit: Flickr (Tanya Gordon)

Knowing that the day will be long, I love coming home to the smell of our family’s favorite pork chop dinner slowing cooking in my crock pot. A little work in the morning (or previous night) makes dinner time delightful.

If you seek crock pot inspiration, look no further than Stephanie O’Dea’s website: A Year of Slow Cooking. For one year, Stephanie made at least one dish each day in her crock pot. Her recipes range from entrées to desserts. Whatever your occasion, your crock pot can save the day.

Freezer Cooking

Photograph Credit: Flickr (Alexandra Munier)

Making meals ahead of time saves you money, energy, and time. Coming home, popping a complete dinner in the oven, and snuggling with your little ones is a blessing.

On days when we arrive home near supper time, I get bombarded by my children, who need attention. Before I can place my purse down, I hear a barrage of questions, requests, and excitement.

Addressing these issues and having to prepare dinner overwhelms me. But with dinner ready, I can enlist help and get dinner warming while spending time with my family.

By incorporating menu planning, crock pot options, and freezer cooking in your schedule, you can turn the “what’s for dinner?” anxiety into “supper’s ready.” Implementing these time-saving strategies will save you money, energy and time as you continue using time wisely. Happy planning!

Question:What are your time-saving strategies for getting dinner on the table?

I plan my meals for the week and I make sure that on days when I know I’ll be busy I schedule an easy meal. Something healthy like a stir-fry – cook rice, ready-cut vegetables from the supermarket, some (vegetarian) burgers (cut up) and a jar of wok sauce. Or I buy frozen pizzas (NOT healthy). But I try to keep to the schedule so we have healthy meals on days that I have more time, and quick meals on days when there isn’t much time.

My boss does freezer cooking, she does an entire month for her and her husband. I prefer the crockpot. I also like to make double meals on the weekend and freeze one for a day during the week. I usually take some kind of meat out of the freezer the night before so it will be thawed by the next day.

I love menu planning. One of my favorite dinners is homemade pizza, and I actually just posted the recipe for Homemade Pizza Dough on my blog The Daily Citron. I’m always open to time-saving tips so I’m going to be checking out more of your site.
Cheers,
Viva

I would love to do more Crock Pot cooking, however, my family tends to be a little picky, so I haven’t really figured this out yet. I do menu plan. I make up a list every week of 7 meals that we have ingredients for. Then in the morning, I take a look at the list and try to decide what I need to start defrosting for that night. I used to “schedule” our meals, but often found that I wasn’t in the mood for what was “scheduled.”

I always find I save money when I manage to plan the meals for the week and shop for just them instead of a bit of this and a bit of that and “I’ll figure something out”. It makes a big difference time-wise too, when I can plan what we’re going to have depending on what plans, after school activities etc we have for that day!

I always plan meals based on the market’s sales flyer for that week. And simply planning the meals a week at a time does the trick for me. I always have a few rotating meals assigned to the tough nights when we have little time, and various activities, but are still hungry (!) and don’t want to pay to eat out.

Seriously, pulling a container out of the freezer and having a decent dinner in a matter of minutes after a long day is wonderful. I’ve had less luck with the crock pot, but maybe that’s because mine is retro. Really retro. I got it for a wedding present a couple of lifetimes ago.

I have tried freezing meals but my dh complains every time. They lose flavor he says. The only thing I can get away with is frying hamburger meat up and then packing it in one pound ziplocs to use for spagetti.

Julie, I have a hubby, who does not care for leftovers or most frozen meals. Finding what works for you is fantastic. I also freeze ingredients and then toss it all together before baking. Thanks for sharing how you adapt a time-saver to your family’s needs.

Even though I am home all day I still face these questions as well and so this is why I Love my crockpot as I can throw something in pick up the house and work a bit before my son gets up and demands my attention. Plus I usually make double and have dinner for another night. I used to do this through Homemade Gourmet but when they went out of business I found I could do it on my own. The only thing I do not do is use a planner and it would be easier as I would know what I need when I go to the grocery story instead of trying to remember it all and either buying items I do not need or forgetting something I did need and then having to go back.

i always try to cook once, eat twice. i get those plans foiled often, but most of the time it helps. like if i buy a roaster chicken, i get the biggest i can find- the next night we’ll do homemade pizza or quesadillas, etc with the rest of the chicken!

Good for you, planning is good. I only plan on big dinner. Iguess the difference is, I love to cook with a passion so, I work with what I got on hand unless, I want something truly different. Your methods is great and if it works for you, go with it.

That’s the key – finding what works for you. I am definitely a baker. I follow recipes and measure ingredients. Those who cook – add a spice here and there – with fantastic results are awesome! Most cooks are very spontaneous and creative. Go with it! Knowing what works for you is the key to using time wisely.

My husband and I used to try a new recipe each week. We spent the evening in the kitchen and had a great time. We found some “keeper” recipes, and then others that never should be listed in a cookbook. 🙂 Hope you enjoy your time together.

We also found eating out on evenings with specials and coupons at our favorite restaurants was a time-saver and money-saver to our budget. Most of the time we ate the dinner and took the leftovers for lunch. Also, prepackaged salads and entrees can decrease your cooking time. Keep experimenting to find what works for you. 🙂

I always make sure to have all my main ingredients in stock and when I buy in bulk I always break the ingredients into smaller servings. For example, if I buy round steak on sale for $1.99/pound and it’s the family portion and 18 pounds is too much for our family of four (haha) I will open the package and divide the meat up so that there are lots of meals, instead of having to pull out a huge package of meat and then try to use in the next few days or have to freeze again.

These tips have saved my sanity over and over again. 🙂 The other thing that helps us is that I have a list of our favorite, cheapest, easiest meals on my desktop. It has things like tacos, breakfast for dinner, and a soup that doesn’t need much prep. On those days I can always fall back on my list.

I have to say that I think about crockpot and freezer cooking all the time but those also take some meal planning and I can’t seem to eek out the time to do meal planning. I know I need to just put aside those excuses and put time in my evenings to think about meals the next day or the next week! Thanks for the article and hopefully we’ll both be successful in better planning for our meals!

I love my crock pot. I use it as often as I can. I would like to do freezer cooking as well, but my husband doesn’t like frozen meat. He feels that it defeats the purpose of buying it fresh if you freeze it after. I guess he makes a point, but running to the store 3 times a weeek for fresh meat is rather a pain. I am a stay at home mom, so according to him I have nothing but time to do these things. Ugh. Men!

I really need to dig that crock pot out of its package (still wrapped) and learn how to use it! I’m a terrible cook, mostly because I don’t have the patience to learn. The whole “set it and forget it” thing would really help.

Nikki, just making spaghetti is easier with the crock pot. I put the sauce, cooked sausage, browned hamburger, or frozen meatballs, and spices in the crock pot. Then let it cook on low for 5 or more hours. Then just make the pasta, toss the salad, and toast the bread for a quick, delicious meal. 🙂

I don’t have a crockpot right now, although I did love mine! On days when I know I won’t have much time to prepare dinner, I plan something that doesn’t take long to prepare, like tacos. All I have to do is brown the ground beef. I could save even more time by doing even that ahead of time, but I haven’t yet. I also like making a roast in the oven. It’s almost as good as the crockpot.

I do a great job following my meal plan for the first few days of the week and then fall of the wagon later in the week. My goal this year is to keep to my meal plan and I hope to use my blog as a way of holding me accountable! 🙂

Emily, I still have difficulty following the plan if we are not in the mood for a dish. By having 2 or 3 favorite meals available, we can adjust our plan to fit our needs.
Great job working through your menu plan as you find what works for you.

I menu plan for the whole month. We have Taco nights every Wednesday and leftovers on Saturday. I use my crock pot only to make homemade yogurt but need to use it more often. Never got into freezer cooking.

I do prep for the meal early in the day when I have a little time. I will cut all the veggies, get the salad ready and season the meat. So when it comes time to get dinner on the table it is just cooking and all the prep is done. I usually have a little time about 1-2pm so this is when I do the prep. Then cooking of dinner just is not as much work. I do use a crockpot and would love to use it every night as it makes getting dinner done so easy.

Menu planning has been my saving grace. At least one child will ask on the way home from school what is for dinner. I hated saying that I had no idea! Plus with menu planning I can make sure ahead of time that I have everything that I will need for that meal. I only shop 2 times a month so I plan my meals accordingly. Usually close to grocery shopping time we are out of cheese, so no meals can have cheese, etc. It has helped keep our grocery bill down as well.

Meal planning always is a struggle for me. I try to buy bouble quantities of items so I can make the same meal 2 times a month- that helps. BUT I’ve learned to just get it done and the rest of the household runs more smoothly 🙂

These are all great tips! I’m still working on developing a meal plan habit. When I do it my stress levels are so much lower!
I also enjoy learning from Crystal (Money Saving Mom) when itcomes to freezer cooking. She has so much great info on the subject!

I would so love to use my crock pot more often! I’ve tried quite a few recipes and have only found one or two that are really good and that my whole family agrees on. I will defintely try out that slow cooker blog that you mentioned 🙂

Thank you for the resources! I’ve Ben wanting to put a bunch of freezer meals together but didn’t know where to start!
I’ve been menu planning a week at a time, and grocery shopping once a week. It’s saved me tons of time, money, and “what’s for dinner” panics.

I loved all your tips! I really need to do some of them. Sometimes it is so hard with everyones schedule to make a good meal. I’ve been wanting a crockpot for a long time. I think I am going to treat myself to one here soon!

Wow. Great post! I really don’t like to cook, but the biggest issue for me is figuring out what to cook. Menu planning might just be the solution for me. Thanks for including some great links! I will look into some of them and hopefully be inspired in the kitchen!
suzy

Awesome a woman after my own heart. I love connecting with other food blogs. I am following you on Facebook. I am always looking for new faces to promote on my newsletter. Let me know if you are interested. Great ideas. I use all of these. I have always thought the Crockpot was a gift from God. Have a beautiful day!!

A menu plan and a well stocked pantry/fridge are the best tools for saving time! I have several pantry meals…meaning everything I need to make a meal are stored in the pantry. So that if I run out of fresh ingredients I always have those pantry meals to fall back on.

My crockpot is my best friend. Frozen chicken thighs, Lipton’s onion soup mix and a chicken bouillon thrown in at 9am is a magically great meal at 5Pm. Toss a salad and we are golden!

I have yet to try freezing some dishes. I do freeze a lot of holiday meals and eat them over the next few months. I love having Thanksgiving in January all over again. OH! I learned a great trick. Steam your turkey back to life, so much more tender.

Thanks, Allie, for the tip on steaming your turkey. I’m assuming you place your frozen turkey on a rack in a roasting pan and tent it. Then place your oven on a low temperature (200 degrees F) for a few hours. Am I on the right track?

I’m still amazed that Stephanie used her crock pot each day for an entire year. I’m just so thankful for those family outings that provide a meal away from home. I need a break from the kitchen every now and then.

We must be looking in the same pantry. I keep saying I’m going to plan out our meals, but I don’t. The one time recently that I did make 3 extra meal and froze them I was so excited to open the freezer door and see those meals. So why don’t I do it more often? I have no idea.

I use several strategies you have mentioned – freezer cooking, the crockpot, and making menu. By far, though, making a menu is my greatest tool. Especially if I remember to check it. I used to to a week at a time of suppers but still found myself at lunch going, “hmm now what to do today?” Breakfasts were always the same.

I started seeing people post their monthly menus. I couldn’t believe that it was possible. So I asked one lady how she made her’s up – she uses the computer to make a calendar and just types in what their are going to eat. So easy. Not only that but you can copy and paste, and even do several months at once. I knew that we ate a lot of the same meals every month, so I tried it. Now why did it take me so long? So the monthly menu is what works best for me right now. I include breakfasts (7 different ones that repeat each week), lunch, snack, supper. I also try to make a new dessert on Sundays. I do leave a few blank spots as something is bound to arrise and meals get put off. This plan doesn’t mean I have to follow it strictly, but it gives me 60 different meal ideas for lunch and supper (assuming none repeat, like pizza, though there are a few that do, like pizza).

I love this! I used to do the freezer cooking. I loved it, and then we no longer had our spare freezer and never had any room. Just this week we got a new spare freezer and I’m so excited to start doing it again!